Aug 31, 2011
The Copelands are right: this is not really worth doing, unless it's raining and there's nothing else to see, or you're on your way to one of the peaks near the lake. Only then does the prospect of getting an expensive hot drink at the end make this hike worth it. The lake is pretty enough, as mountain lakes tend to be, but there are indeed many far prettier lakes.
The trail is a boring, hard-packed slog up through the trees. One of the very few switchbacks offers a nice partial view of Lake Louise, serving to highlight the colour of the lake. Once the trail joins the horse trail near the top, you can expect to be dodging piles of horse poop. (I think that horse owners should be subject to the same scooping laws as dog owners ;-)
Having said that, there are a few things I liked about this trail: it was fairly quiet in the rain/snow, the altitude of the lake puts it into the larch realm (yay for larches!) and the outlet from the lake is a pretty (though hard to photograph) little waterfall. I can only imagine that this place must be hell on a fine day in high season - though quiet we did encounter our fair share of mostly unhappy-looking tourists.
So, in the end I agree fully with the Copelands' rating - if you're in the Lake Louise area and there's really nothing else to do (!) then do it on a rainy day. It'll be much easier to get a parking spot too.
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